Minnesota Hearing Aid Seller Hacked

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota hearing aid company says excerpts of more than 550 patient records were compromised in a security breach to its e-mail system. The company says no Social Security numbers or financial information were exposed.

The Star Tribune reports that Plymouth-based Miracle-Ear says the Oct. 24 incident happened when "an unknown and unauthorized intruder" gained access to the e-mail account of an employee of parent company Amplifon, which handles the accounts and administrative work for subsidiaries.

Company officials say they don't know if the intruder accessed patient records.

Because officials say they can't prove with "100 percent certainty" that the records were not viewed or copied, the company sent letters to those affected by the incident.